Every club is looking for MVP-caliber production, but it's not easy to find. Here's a look at how teams around the American League acquired the players who got the most MVP votes in 2010. If there's one trend, it's that top Rays draft picks did exceptionally well in this year's balloting:
- Josh Hamilton – Trade - Hamilton's remarkable story has been well-chronicled; Rangers GM Jon Daniels acquired the former first overall pick from the Reds in the 2007 trade that sent Edinson Volquez to Cincinnati.
- Miguel Cabrera – Trade - Two weeks before Hamilton was traded, the Tigers acquired Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis from the Marlins for a group of players led by Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin.
- Robinson Cano – International Signing - The Yankees signed Cano out of the Dominican Republic as an amateur free agent in 2001.
- Jose Bautista – Trade - The Blue Jays acquired Bautista from the Pirates for Robinzon Diaz in 2008. Before the Blue Jays acquired him, Bautista suited up for the Pirates, Royals, Devil Rays and Orioles.
- Paul Konerko – Free Agency - GM Kenny Williams re-signed Konerko to a five-year, $60MM deal after the White Sox won the 2005 World Series. It's safe to call that signing a smart one now that Konerko posted a .282/.365/.514 line over the life of the contract and averaged 31 homers per season.
- Evan Longoria – Draft - Tampa Bay selected Longoria with the third overall pick of the 2006 draft and he's been playing at an elite level since his 2008 rookie season.
- Carl Crawford – Draft - The Devil Rays selected Crawford in the second round of the 1999 draft and locked him up to an extension that kept him in Tampa Bay through two of his free agent seasons.
- Joe Mauer – Draft - Like Hamilton, Mauer was a first overall draft pick. The Twins selected him ahead or Mark Prior and Mark Teixeira in the 2001 draft and extended him after his 2009 MVP season.
- Adrian Beltre – Free Agency - The Red Sox signed Beltre to a one-year deal, giving him the chance to re-establish his free agent value. The third baseman did just that, clubbing 28 homers and a league-leading 49 doubles while playing stellar defense.
- Delmon Young – Trade - Young, the third first overall pick on this list, arrived in Minnesota in the trade that sent Jason Bartlett and Matt Garza to Tampa Bay.
Joe Mauer shouldn’t have even been top ten.
He only had an amazing 2nd half. Who else coulda been on there?
with your name being “mauer fan,” you are a bit of a bias party. he should not have been in the top 10.
Who would you rather put in there?
Vlad
Hahaha, on what grounds? Mauer had a down year by Mauer standards, but he still doubled Vlad’s WAR.
Using WAR to compare different positions is an apples to oranges comparison. Brett Gardner had a higher WAR than Mauer, bet you would rather have him then huh?
gardner had a WAR of 4.7
Mauer had a WAR of 5.1
just sayin…
Actually Gardner had a 5.4 and Mauer a 5.1.
gardner had a WAR of 4.7
Mauer had a WAR of 5.1
just sayin…
Using WAR to compare different positions is an apples to oranges comparison. Brett Gardner had a higher WAR than Mauer, bet you would rather have him then huh?
yeah, who would ever put a CATCHER who hit .327 and won a gold glove in the top 10 in MVP voting. the nerve right?
Don’t forget that silver slugger as well!
Er, Mauer finished 10th in the AL in WAR, so yes he should have. His teammate, Young, shouldn’t have though. Mauer alone was worth three more wins than Young was.
Twins should see what they could get for Young. His D is HORRIBLE. Benson could be ready in a year or so and he has crazy power.
if you think that some one in the top 10 mvp voting should be traded, how about you give him to me
Wouldn’t mind the Twins DH’ing Delmon if they are not able to bring Thome back. Let Delmon play the OF to give Kubel’s knees a break maybe a couple times a week.
Should have mentioned that the Rangers could have taken Cano in the A-Rod trade.
hahaha i just remembered that. thats funny
But Arias was so good!
Delmon Young got MVP votes!?!?! Wow, that’s surprising to me giving his lack of OBP and defense. He had a total .8 WAR which is pretty bad. Don’t get me wrong he was a good story and took a big step forward but he had only 28 walks on the year. Voters seriously overrated batting average there.
Delmon Young got MVP votes!?!?! Wow, that’s surprising to me giving his lack of OBP and defense. He had a total .8 WAR which is pretty bad. Don’t get me wrong he was a good story and took a big step forward but he had only 28 walks on the year. Voters seriously overrated batting average there.
When I first read this I thought Robinzon Diaz was mistakenly put on this list haha!
MVP caliber, huh?! Well, they’re in different situations, of course, but what I can’t wait to see is how Bautista and Beltré (once signed) perform in 2011. Given their previous histories let’s just say that I am “just not convinced” that what they showed us this year is what we can expect from them in the future…
Technically Konerko came to the White Sox in a trade for Mike Cameron…
Konerko wasnt a free agent. They resigned him. He was orginally acquired by trade
From Cincinnati for Mike Cameron. I don’t remember if other minor league pieces were involved or not.
It was a straight one-for-one deal according to baseball reference.
Cool, 70% of the top 10 vote getters for MVP in the AL were acquired via trade/free agency, and the rest were developed by the teams they are currently playing in.
It’s nice to see how year after year the Yankees have been increasing the number on homegrown talent in their rosters, and being part of the few teams with 50% or more homegrown talent in their rosters that do reach the postseason (just below Tampa and ahead of Texas this season, in 2009 they were the team with the most homegrown talent in the playoffs).
Cool, 70% of the top 10 vote getters for MVP in the AL were acquired via trade/free agency, and the rest were developed by the teams they are currently playing in.
It’s nice to see how year after year the Yankees have been increasing the number on homegrown talent in their rosters, and being part of the few teams with 50% or more homegrown talent in their rosters that do reach the postseason (just below Tampa and ahead of Texas this season, in 2009 they were the team with the most homegrown talent in the playoffs).
Well when he came to the White Sox it was via the Reds.